


Let the Zhampagne Flow Freely (so that i might forget our memories)

by xoxoHoran



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Angst, Cannon, F/M, Pining, miguel and alexis go on a date, season 4, the jazzaguy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:42:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24905527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xoxoHoran/pseuds/xoxoHoran
Summary: InDriving TestDavid told Alexis that she always got everything she wanted. However, inThe JazzaguyAlexis reflects on all the things she has and the one thing she wants when going on her date with Miguel.
Relationships: Theodore "Ted" Mullens/Alexis Rose
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	Let the Zhampagne Flow Freely (so that i might forget our memories)

Staring at her phone, desperately wondering if she should respond to Miguel’s inquiry to meet in person, Alexis realizes that she’s more overwhelmed by the situation than she has been about anything else: when David had gotten his driver’s license, he said that she skated through life (which, ew David!), but this situation seems to remind her that she doesn’t _always_ get what she wants.

Resisting the urge to flip through her camera roll, to a few pictures she has saved of she and Ted from her days working as a receptionist at the clinic, she allows herself to wallow in the fact that things would be _completely_ different if she always got her way like David had suggested: she likely wouldn’t be pretending to search online dating apps to ‘help Twyla’ and judging the various men who signed up for their services, telling herself that she was just being a good friend as she looked at the various singles (the selection pool was _thin_ , to say the least).

She wouldn’t be desperately trying to forget about the way things had been when she was with Ted, the way he always made her feel stable and _normal_ , the way he loved her before she even understood how to fully love herself if she had gotten everything (or just the _one_ thing, really) she wanted.

Maybe they would have _actually_ kissed after he gave her that twig pen if she had gotten what she had wanted: instead, she was subject to feelings of awkwardness and rejection as they ‘agreed’ not to do that anymore (which, okay, she understood where he was coming from, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt).

Not wanting to think about Ted anymore, she quickly responds to Miguel’s request with a quick “ _tonite sounds great_ ,” before laying her phone face down on the bed and groaning into her pillow, suddenly feeling as if the weight of the world had settled onto her shoulders.

* * *

After no one seems very _sympathetic_ and _understanding_ about her concerns in regards to her date with Miguel, she forces herself to acknowledge the fact that she actually needs to start getting ready to go: if nothing else, maybe it will allow her to think of something other than Ted for a little while (highly doubtful, given the fact that she’s _beyond_ worried about how Ted might react to her going out with his _enemy_ , though she puts those thoughts aside and picks out one of her favorite dresses).

She’s thankful that David is doing _whatever_ he’s doing with Stevie, because it means she has the entire room to lay out all of her shoe and outfit combinations to choose the most appropriate for the evening and all the time that she wants to give herself a pep-talk in the mirror.

For a brief moment, she thinks back to the conversation she had with Twyla at the café, when her friend had only served to jumble her thoughts more than they previously had been, before shaking her head, tossing her hair, and picking up her clutch, determined to go on the date (Ted likely would never know, right?).

* * *

She’s anxious as she makes her way into the Wobbly Elm, checking twice in the parking lot to make sure there were no signs of Ted before making her way inside, trying to appear slightly disinterested and _obviously_ higher class than the other patrons (her dress likely costs more than what half of these people make _yearly_ ). Though she knows it’s shallow and completely something her former, before Schitt’s Creek self would have done, she had found the prospect of looking better than other people comforting: as if her appearance would make meeting Miguel look more coincidental and flirty, and less desperate.

He’s cuter than his newspaper advertisement and (sadly) fully clothed, but he has a nice smile, something she notices as soon as he calls her over: she’s sure that he can tell how nervous she is in the situation, especially as she comments about not recognizing him without his nipples (how terrible and stalker-ish is she?).

It’s as they’re sitting down, stuck in an awkward loop of talking about his nipples and puppies (and clearly showcasing the fact that she’s seen his pictures _more than appropriate_ ), that she realizes that she hasn’t really been on many first dates, especially ones with people who aren’t already at least half in love with her: it’s different and terrifying all at once, a thrill of excitement and nerves running down her spine as she takes a seat on the barstool beside Miguel.

The date begins with a nice bottle of Zhampagne and light conversation about their history on Bumpkin (she’s quick to assure him that this is really her _only_ date from the app and that she isn’t using it _seriously_ ): her nerves become more evident as she takes sip after sip of the horribly off-brand Zhampagne, unsure of how she is thinking of only the _wrong_ things to say, though she seems to be (it’s clear _he’s_ actually on the app _for real_ , so why was she so quick to assure him she wasn’t?)(God she’s bad at first dates).

Miguel is suave and smooth, two things Ted hadn’t been during their first date: instead, the blonde was more of the bumbling dork she’s grown to love, rambling somewhat awkwardly and really keeping up the conversation that she had been disinterested in continuing (she cringes a little, internally, when she thinks about she had treated Ted back then, not realizing that she would love him one day). Though he had evidently been nervous before their date, Miguel has somehow pulled himself together and shoved his nerves aside, something Ted hadn’t managed to do back then: God, she really had to stop making these comparisons.

He's honest and a little vulnerable and, in hindsight, she should have known that the date wasn’t going to go well because she can’t stop thinking about Ted (she’s almost given up trying at this point). Everything Miguel says reminds her of a memory she has with Ted: when he mentions his busy schedule, she thinks of the blonde’s and how he seemingly managed it effortlessly, even though she was a poor assistant; when he mentions not going on dates frequently, she thinks about how Ted called her the prettiest girl in town when he first asked her on a date – realistically, her date with Miguel was doomed from the start because she hasn’t been able to stop thinking about Ted and how happy he made her, even when she didn’t realize it.

So, when she mentions her worries about coming due to her history with Ted, something that slips out even though she knows it shouldn’t have, she isn’t surprised when her companion tenses slightly before connecting the dots of her history with the other veterinarian in town (and yeah, so what, they were _only_ engaged _twice_!).

She kills their night with the Ted comment and Miguel is out the door before she can even remind him that he hadn’t paid for the Zhampagne they had been drinking, sighing as she wonders if she’ll ever really be able to move on past the whole _Ted_ situation (especially living in a small town like Schitt’s Creek).

* * *

Though watching her parents try (and fail) at making matches on Bumpkin (she will definitely _not_ be Jebidiah) is amusing and somewhat funny, it doesn’t brighten her mood the way recounting her nightly terrors does with David when he arrives back to their motel room in the morning: he’s attentive and clearly interested as she shares how poorly the date went, going into detail about how she had ruined her own chances at happiness (she can tell David wants to add something and loves him for not).

It isn’t until she runs into Ted a week later at the café that she’s reminded of her ruined date and her inability to really move forward: after seeing him and Heather together at Warner Farms, she can’t even pretend they’re unhappy together and is instead subjected to some sort of hell where she is forced to acknowledge the fact that someone else makes him happier than she can, even though she can’t imagine being with anyone else.

Thankfully, she doesn’t have to say anything or mention the date, instead listening as Ted waves Miguel’s same newspaper advertisement in her face, mumbling about how inappropriate it is for him to be printing something like this and threatening to call the newspaper to remove the coma between _animal_ and _lover_ (Alexis can’t help but chuckle softly at Ted’s anger, though it only earns her a playful glare before the two continue sipping their respective smoothies).

It’s at this moment, sitting next to one another at the café, that Alexis fully realizes how important Ted is to her - he’s more than the man she rejected twice, more than the guy who hired her when she had no experience and had confidence in her when she didn’t even believe in herself - instead, he’s a friend, a companion, and someone she’s sure she’ll never fall completely out of love with.

She thinks about that during her run back to the motel and wonders if one-day things will ever be easier between the two of them, if she’ll ever be able to fully move on from him. If she will ever forget the way it had felt to know that he loved her, even though she had been completely self-absorbed and selfish, forget how he has always supported her, no matter how much doubt she had in herself.

And, to herself, she wonders if she even wants to.


End file.
